Container Gardening

Many people live either in cities or don't have garden space (like me...a house with very little garden space IN the freakin city).

I'm doing my research now, since I suck at gardening and vegetables stuff, but I'm learning now.

Every experience from any monkeys here is highly appreciated and wecomed!

 

My garden is a container garden. I figured my soil requirements around about 1' cubed/ plant to support the largest of garden vegetables. I made them in lengths of about 4-5 feet so I could move them as needed. I can tell no difference in care or production from a ground planted garden.

Things I would have done differently- looked for free containers. About anything will work. Check out growing potatoes in old tires. Another good source here is old rusted out water troughs. A few slats across the bottom and some top soil- instant container.

 

Cool! Thanks Hispeed...I'm a total and hopeless newb in plants and gardening, but I want to learn...

 

For the plants that we grow in containers, we use the EarthBox system.
It's not cheap, they were around $32.00 each, but they give us excellent results.

 

I guess I didn't mention how my containers are constructed.....

I used heat treated pine to build what looks to be a small coffin (no lid). If you build your own, use smaller width boarding. The heat and moisture warp wider boards in no time (trust me). My wood is only about 1" thick. Pine did work well. It's nice and light. I would estimate my filled containers weigh about 100 lbs. Very movable if need be. Stay away from anything chemically treated. Some say railroad ties are fine, others say don't use them... I dunno.

Like I said before.... go cheap and look for free containers. I wish I had.

 

Just use plain old planters from the hardware store....
Got papaya's, pineapples, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, strawberries, onions and some cool lavendar....
oh and miracle grow every couple weeks...

 

I use Termin 8 H2O, that I got at Lowes hardwear, on pine or spruce to help peserve the wood in my boxes. It says it is safe for food.

 

I have no problem with any kind of seeds here...and extremely cheap. A baggy of 10 grams of certain plant seeds is 30 cents US...So, I could get 10 plant types seeds for 3$, but I have problem with specialized hardware, so I'll have to improvize and make my own boxes...where I'm going to find time for that, heaven only knows...

 

I am and have already built by first raised bed garden. Using 2x12 , make boxes about 4' wide by about 8' long. The depth gives you great root room and also you can raise the entire bed up to where you don't have to bend so damn much. 1/4" hardware cloth, keeps the pests from digging in and a piece of 1/4" plywood which goes right to the wood and then the very bottom is the hardware cloth. Drill several 3/8" holes for water drainage and you then just fill it with the soil of your choice and plant.

Am also finishing up my rear roof rain water system which will pretty much furnish most of the water the garden will need. I will do pic's when I get it all done, probably in the spring when I am ready to plant.

 

I do container gardening too. Use what are called earth boxes. They are kind of a soil based hydroponic system. Very cheap to make. I used plastic storage bins that I picked up at the dollar store. But you can use buckets or just about anything. They are very cool.

I uploaded the plans here. http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=57

 

Thanks Oscar! Veeeery nice!

 

We use 2 x 12's and built a few containers ( raised beds).
2- 4' x 4's, 1- 8' x 8', and 4- 2' x 8's.
Now I am going to be using "totes", the plastic ones that measure 12 inches deep, 21 inches long and 15 inches wide. I can use pvc pipe for a "drip" system up north, where water is scarce, and evaporation is a problem.
I can stack them for more depth, or run them in a line for 12 feet in sections of 2 wide, for easier access. In Phoenix, soil is not the problem the heat is, as I spent a LOT of money on sunscreen, only to watch my plants all burn up. Then I discovered that the scren has to be 8 feet or higher! Up north it's not the heat so much as it is the volcanic soil ( highly acidic) and strong winds!
So far, I figure I'll need 2.4 cu ft for each container and I have 100+ containers ready to go. That's another cost!
I gave away over $600 in seeds in packets last year, or see them all go to waste! If I had thought it all out, I'd have never bought the seeds before I had the place to put them!

 

We used two courses of dry-stacked cinderblocks to create "raised beds" on an unused concete pad in our backyard. It worked so well that we have started some raised beds in the parts of the yard that get enough sun to grow veggies.

While the first course on ground was kind of a pain because I wanted them level and so had to do some digging, they look good and are holding up well so far and were really not that expensive ... (Of course, if I added up all the receipts from return trips to Lowe's the hubby would probably faint dead away. LOL)

 

Forgot to mention...we double stacked the 2 x 12's to get 23 inches for planting, and then only filled the frames to about 20 inches for water to stay in and not run off the top! All told, in 2 x 12's and compost materials we spent over $900.00!
Time to change my ways!

 

I grow my herbs in ornamental whiskey barrels on the patio. They love it. So do I. If the fire ants come, it's easy to keep them away by Sevin dusting the dirt before I transplant the seedlings.